Game 2011.91: Tigers at Royals

Well, Rick Porcello did his part, the bullpen held on in roller-coaster fashion, and the Tigers head into the fur game of the 4-game series only 1/2 game behind the Indians in the Central.

Fur game because the performance of Furbush will be key tonight; with Valverde done until the break and Alburquerque out until the break, the bullpen is a bit light right now, and Furbush is on a limited pitch-count. If Furbush and the Tigers do come through tonight, they head into the first-half finale with none other than Justin Verlander holding the broom, and with 1st place in sight.

The Royals will turn to Luke Hochevar, who may look a bit nervous as the 5th inning begins–in his last start he gave up a 5-run 5th.

As noted yesterday, Austin Jackson will be kept out of the starting lineup for the rest of the series with wrist soreness (he will be available for defense and pinch-running). Tonight Casper takes his turn haunting CF.

Today’s Player of the Pre-Game: Don Kelly

They pitch around V-Mart to get to Kelly, and The Donkey makes them pay

36 Comments

I see Leyland is breaking out his patented 10 man line-up. I guess he figured Inge wouldn’t sit, so he’ll go with two 3B’s.

Coleman

July 9, 2011 at 7:06 pm

I would have Inge batting 10th myself…I’ll edit it eventually…

Brenden

July 9, 2011 at 7:52 pm

The Furbush experiment doesn’t seem to be panning out…

Kevin in Dallas

July 9, 2011 at 7:53 pm

I’m shocked that someone isn’t up and throwing. If we had more arms in the pen, I think someone would be. We’re stuck for another two innings.

Kevin in Dallas

July 9, 2011 at 8:01 pm

There goes Wilk.

I’m calling this Butler AB the AB of the game.

Brenden

July 9, 2011 at 8:01 pm

This could ugly real fast.

Brenden

July 9, 2011 at 8:04 pm

And there it is…..fricken eh….

Brenden

July 9, 2011 at 8:12 pm

Is it mandatory that our 2nd Hitter has to hit under .250? Since we’ve gotten rid of Polanco, that seems to be the trend.

Kevin in Dallas

July 9, 2011 at 8:14 pm

First pitch fastball scouting report is actually working for a change. Seems like it hasn’t worked since 2007.

Kevin in Dallas

July 9, 2011 at 8:17 pm

Wow Getz got up for that Martinez liner. Great play.

Brenden

July 9, 2011 at 8:26 pm

Clown show alert…

Kevin in Dallas

July 9, 2011 at 8:29 pm

That’s 100% on Leyland. Watch us lose 9-7.

Brenden

July 9, 2011 at 8:29 pm

What happened? I’m stuck with Gamecast?

Brenden

July 9, 2011 at 8:30 pm

Oh…that…yeah…I’m glad he left Furbush in there….Probably figured he was due…

Kevin in Dallas

July 9, 2011 at 8:38 pm

They were teeing off on Furbush. Leyland was praying that he’d somehow get out of it, and it cost us a 3 run bomb. We’re gonna get more runs, probably a lot more. But 10 is tough to do.

Mr. X

July 9, 2011 at 8:31 pm

At least they stopped hitting singles. That was pure torture. Thanks for putting us away with the homerun.

Brenden

July 9, 2011 at 8:32 pm

Leyland is proving to be more of the problem than Rick Knapp ever was…

Mr. X

July 9, 2011 at 8:42 pm

5 of those runs were unearned. Hard to yank the starter that was getting unlucky when you don’t have much of a bullpen.

Mr. X

July 9, 2011 at 8:36 pm

Ramon Santiago is quickly becoming one of my least favorite guys on the team.

ouchudied

July 9, 2011 at 8:38 pm

He has made the play of the game, so far…

Kevin in Dallas

July 9, 2011 at 8:38 pm

Which is unfortunate, because he’s been really valuable for a few years.

Mr. X

July 9, 2011 at 8:54 pm

Damn, we have a chance to get back in this. A VMart HR ties it.

Mr. X

July 9, 2011 at 8:55 pm

Nobody blaming the manager for leaving Hocheavar out there?

Mr. X

July 9, 2011 at 8:59 pm

“They pitch around V-Mart to get to Kelly, and The Donkey makes them pay”

Tim D

July 9, 2011 at 9:02 pm

This team so desperately needs a SP and a 3B who can hit just a little.

Tim D

July 9, 2011 at 9:03 pm

Ryan Dempster and Aramis Ramirez. Although word is Ramirez wants to stay in Chi.

Kevin in Dallas

July 9, 2011 at 9:47 pm

Cle ties it up in the bottom of the 9th…

Vince in MN

July 9, 2011 at 9:57 pm

Bautista unties it in the top of the 10th.

ouchudied

July 9, 2011 at 10:05 pm

A true Tiger

Vince in MN

July 9, 2011 at 10:08 pm

WP (Wildman Perry) adds to the misery. Fortunately all the runs were unearned.

Vince in MN

July 9, 2011 at 10:13 pm

Our staff is getting hammered by the worst team in the AL. The Jeff Jones experiment is a failure.

Mr. X

July 9, 2011 at 11:52 pm

We gave up 8 ER and just 4 extra base hits in the last 3 games. That’s not really getting hammered. We give up a ton of annoying cheap singles though.

Furbush and Wilk are fresh from the minor leagues. No pitching coach can give them the 5 years of MLB experience that they really need. We can go with Brad Thomas instead, but I’m quite sure Jeff Jones can’t fix him either.

But this is the price we pay for playing 41 games in 42 days. There has been next to no rest at all for our beaten up pitching staff. Good thing is that we are just .5 game out of 1st place. Things could definitely be worse.

Kevin in Dallas

July 9, 2011 at 11:54 pm

Agreed and agreed. With a little help from Tor, we’re in 1st place headed into the break. Worst case scenario, we’re 1.5 games out. Not too shabby.

How’s that Guillen rehab sting going? Is he back after the break?

Mr. X

July 10, 2011 at 12:58 am

This may sound crazy, but I got a strange feeling that when Guillen comes back, either him or Raburn moves to 3B and the other plays 2B. Inge will be out or be used as a late inning sub.

Coleman

July 10, 2011 at 1:47 am

Inge will replace Guillen when he goes back on the DL in 2 weeks. And the advantage of Raburn at 2B is that Guillen won’t look so bad when he takes over.